


Motherly Love

by whatchamajig



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, F/M, M/M, Men Crying, Misunderstandings, Multi, Older Male/Younger Male (Past), POV Female Character, Past Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Statutory Rape (Implied), lots of Spanish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatchamajig/pseuds/whatchamajig
Summary: Guadalupe Alejandra Welles, better known as Mama Welles, sees something she shouldn't.She has a choice to make, and a few things to consider.
Relationships: Male V/Jackie Welles, Male V/Original Male Character (past), Misty Olszewski/Jackie Welles, Misty Olszewski/Male V, Misty Olszewski/Male V/Jackie Welles
Comments: 11
Kudos: 93





	Motherly Love

**Author's Note:**

> what up i wrote this instead of sleeping.
> 
> no i will translate the spanish. i made sure everything translates correctly back in google translate, so dont be afraid to use it. translating it felt like it would take away from the spirit of the story.

Little China, Guadalupe decides as she exits her car, is disgustingly loud and overcrowded. That is not to say that the Glen is not loud and overcrowded, but everything there feels like home, like a family. Little China is.. Artificial. A pony show, Jackie would call it. Fitting, for the witch that her son has fallen for.

Ignoring the doom preachers and the joytoys who beckon her as she passes, she makes her way towards Misty’s shop. Reading cards and pointing out chakra points can’t be profitable, another worry Guadalupe has about this woman. The building is clearly kept in her name but the profits of the ripper doctor in the basement keep it running, despite what both Jackie and V tell her. 

Finding the store she frowns at the neon sign that proudly declares ‘Misty’s Esoterica’. Churches all around her, of all religions, and the girl places her faith in magic. Querido Dios, help her son. Beads jingle as she enters, the smell of incense filling her nose.

“Hi!” Misty’s voice calls from somewhere in the back. “I’ll be right with you.” 

Try as she might, Guadalupe cannot fault her for not being at the counter. It isn’t as if she’s always at the bar when a customer walks in. Another voice comes from the back, quiet and masculine, and for a moment she thinks that she’ll finally meet the doctor Jackie and V speak so highly of. They both keep mentioning how handsome he is.

Misty comes in from the back, her blonde frizzy hair catching on the neon. Guadalupe opens her mouth to say hello, I’ve brought you lunch, no meat when a pair of arms follow after Misty. They snake around her hips, dragging her back into a waiting body. 

Misty stands on her toes, throwing her arms around his shoulders as V leans down to kiss her. They kiss like lovers, like they’re familiar with each other intimately. 

Guadalupe turns on her heels and marches from the shop.

\----

V had come to her as Vincent, the only child of Armando and Kaitlyn Ortega. After a night of Lace and alcohol, Armando had pushed Kaitlyn down the flight of stairs in their apartment, her neck breaking when she hit the ground floor. For six months Vincent had shared a bed with Jackie, her son wrapped around him like a security blanket. When Armando had returned from jail and Vincent had gone back to live with him Guadalupe still put down a plate for him at every meal. 

She had watched him grow from a shy, intelligent young boy, robbed of an Arasaka scholarship because of his father, to a shy, intelligent young man. A man who had breached the ICE of the Coyote’s registers and prevented the maker from taking a cut of the profit. A man who held the door open for anyone who crossed his path and didn’t resort to violence unless he had to. A man who still blushed and shrunk down in his seat when Guadalupe brought up his first crush, the rockerboy Kerry Eurodyne. 

He and Jackie were inseparable. Even at sixteen when Jackie had told Vincent he was too much of a gonk to hang out, he still followed after him. She had watched him grow from Vincent to V.

Sitting at a back table in the Coyote Guadalupe debates how she is going to tell Jackie about what she saw. 

It repeats in her head, the sight of V and Misty kissing. His hands around her waist and the way she had smiled, laughed a little at his insistence. She had never trusted Misty, but V… V. How could he do that to Jackie? 

Had it been for his own benefit, cornering her one night in the bar and telling her how much Jackie loved Misty, how happy she made him? V had spoken of how Jackie smiled when he looked at Misty, a dopey smile of his own on his face. Had it been false?

She thinks. She thinks and thinks and thinks. She thinks of the poster on V’s wall, Kerry Eurodyne’s face screaming into nothing.

“V doesn’t even like women!” The emptiness of the bar answers her.

\----

When V is sixteen he spends twelve hours at Guadalupe’s side, leaving only once when she asks for coffee. Jackie is on an operating table, the doctors working as quickly as they can to save his life. Guadalupe had emptied her savings to pay for the treatment. She doesn’t know what she’ll do if her son dies.

“All for a fucking piece of tail.” V hisses when they hit hour six. “Que jodido gonk.”

“Chico estupido. I warned him against the Valentinos but he never listens to me.” She turns her face into V’s shoulder, hiding her tears.

“But Mama,” V gasps, holding his hands up mockingly, “He was in love!”

Jackie is always in love. Every girl that he meets and chases after he loves. From their hair to their smile to the silly way they laugh when he tells a joke, he loves them. Every time he gets a new output he shouts about it, would dance about it if he knew how to dance a dance that wasn’t meant for a club. And every time they split he mopes for weeks.

Until the next girl comes along.

“Have you ever been in love, V?” He’s only sixteen but Guadalupe remembers being sixteen and in love. Burning love that left her heartbroken, but love nonetheless.

“Mama,” V sighs, and she’s reminded of that boy she took home nine years ago. The one with the haunted eyes and crooked smile. “Yes. And it hurt, Mama. Still hurts.”

“It gets better, mi querido. Sí puedo prometerte una cosa, mejorará.”

“Gracias mamá. Te quiero.” Guadalupe never gets to ask him who it was that he loved. The doctors come out and Jackie is alive.

\----

Pepe is stocking the bar when Guadalupe gets in. He looks up when she comes in and his eyes glow as the radio flicks to life, Luis Miguel crooning softly. Pepe dances out from behind the bar, taking Guadalupe’s hand in his own and spinning her around.

“Pepe,” She laughs, “I have a question. Uno serio.”

“Entonces pregunta, Guadalupe. Tu deseo es mi exigencia.” Always a charmer, Pepe. If Pepe was not in love with Cynthia and Guadalupe not once bitten, twice shy of romance she would consider asking him on a date. But that time has passed.

“Does V like women?” She spins out and Pepe does not pull her back in.

“Why do you ask?” Pepe had never known what to make of V. Jackie was a terror in the bar as a child and V was Jackie’s shadow, which could only mean one thing. Even after years of maturity the bartender still watched V every time he entered the bar. 

“I just realized I had never seen him with a woman, and I’ve found some… evidence that points to a change.”

“Guadalupe. You are my closest friend, so I will be honest with you: I do not think V likes women, no. I have never met his inputs, but I saw how he’d look at his phone when he was dating. I only know of one man.”

Grim silence falls between them at that. V had been fifteen, a gangly youth who was a handsome mix of his father and mother. Tanned skin and blue eyes with a friendly disposition. Jackie had just started to look at the Valentinos and V had been alone, angry and bitter and regressing into the shyness that plagued him in his youth. 

Marcos Flores was a man of forty-two and a father of three, the oldest being two years younger than V. A stable man, and a handsome one. V had been lonely.

Guadalupe had caught them in the alley behind the bar. Whether it was teenage recklessness or Flores feeling bold, she’ll never know, but she’s glad it happened. She calls Pepe and Jackie’s friend Gustavo and Flores’ husband, calls any Valentino who respects her name. And there are a lot. With a steady hand, she kneecaps Flores and then holds V as he screams, pleading with them not to hurt him because he’s in love.

Flores leaves the city a week later. His husband and kids go back to Spain. V does not talk to her for a week. He throws things at Jackie when he tries to speak to him. Even now, Guadalupe worries that there are stains on V’s soul that will never be washed away. 

“But never a woman.” She asks Pepe.

“Never a woman that I’ve seen.” He shrugs, grabbing up a whisky glass to clean it. “But sexuality, it’s... Fluid. Maybe he’s found a liking to women now that he’s seen more of the outside world.”

Guadalupe hums.

“Do you doubt that I would do anything to protect Jackie?”

“Nunca. God would have to flood the earth once more to stop you.” She nods at Pepe’s words.

“I have to go pray. I need strength.”

\----

Guadalupe prays to Saint Rita of Cascia for strength and Saint Maria Goretti for forgiveness. This will not be easy.

\----

The bar is empty this day. She had closed the doors, requesting at least four hours for private business. No one will question her, and if they do no one will be upset if she does not answer. 

V comes in carrying a crate full of bottles, the glass clinking together when he sets them on the bartop.

“You wanted to see me, Mama? ¿Todo está bien?” He leans against the bar, and she sees her boy through all his stages of life. Guadalupe feels tears in her eyes, but she must do this. It isn’t fair to Jackie.

“Everything is fine, Vincent.” His full name makes him weary, shoulders slouching and pulling his jacket tighter to his body. “I need to speak to you.”

“I’m all ears, Mama. What’s going on?” He slinks over, taking the seat across from her.

“Vincent. This is hard for me, and it will be hard for you, but I need you to tell me the truth. Do you understand?”

“Si mamá. ¿Segura que estás bien?”

“I saw you, Vincent.” The words come out before she can stop them, and the bandage is off. “With Misty.”

“Okay?” He draws the word out, brows raising as if she’s just told a bad joke. “I go and see her all the time, plus Viktor works out of the basement, so…”

“I saw you kiss her, Vincent.” Her tone is forceful. She will make him see the gravity of the situation. “How could you do that? To me? To Jackie? Are you sleeping with her behind his back?!”

“Madre. Mamá, no creo que lo entiendas. Look, we can call Jackie and talk to him.”

“I will tell him!” She shouts, the chair sliding against the floor from the speed at which she stands. “What you did! What she did! How could you?! I took you in! You’re Jackie’s brother!”

“Mama!” V stands as well, holding his hands up when she rounds on him.

“¡És tu hermano! ¡Él te ama! ¡Te amo!”

“¡Mamá, no entiendes! ¡La amo! Amo-” She slaps him. Guadalupe Alejandra Welles has never hit her children, Jackie or V. Could never imagine raising a hand against them before this moment. 

Vincent stands there, eyes wide and mouth open as he tries to process what has happened. Hot tears stream down Guadalupe’s face.

She points to the door.

“Quiero que vayas. Y si no le dices a Jackie, lo haré. ¿Lo entiendes? Ya no eres mi hijo y no quiero volver a verte nunca más.” Vincent looks at her, tears in his eyes, and Guadalupe wants to hold him. Cradle his head in her hands and sing to him like she did when he was a child. 

But he is a man grown, and he has made his bed. 

Vincent waits for her to change her mind, and when he realizes it isn’t coming he slinks out the door. 

\----

Three days later she is playing dominoes with a few of the Valentino mothers when Jackie walks in. Her girlfriends holler at him, catcalling and asking after his health. On a normal day, he would indulge them. On a normal day, but that day is not today.

“Jackie! ¡Ven a sentarte! Le estaba contando a Martha cómo solías quedarte atascado en la ventana de la sala cuando volviste a colarte.” Guadalupe pats the chair next to her. Jackie does not sit, instead choosing to cross his arms over his chest. He looks like he’s squaring up, and the women around the table all make a sound, like they’re ten again and Jackie’s just told a teacher to fuck off.

“Mami. What did you say to V?”

“Jackie,” She waves a hand at him, leaning forward to check a domino. Her’s clinked down with a triumphant sound. “Not now. I’m winning.”

“Mami.” Jackie’s voice grows louder. “¿Qué dijiste?”

“I will tell you at dinner, now hush!” She means it. If Vincent did not tell him what happened, she would do so herself. Secrets are a necessity of life, but not when it comes to this.

Large hands grab the table and all the women scramble backward as tiles fly into the air. Guadalupe stands, raising her chin and meeting Jackie head-on as he bears down on her. If he were any other man, she would feel fear, but Jackie is her son and so instead she feels anger. Anger and disbelief because Jackie’s eyes are red and there are dark bags under his eyes, as if he’s been crying.

“I will only ask you one more: What did you say?” 

“I said what needed to be said.” She raises her chin. “Did he not tell you the truth?”

“Oh, he told me.”

“Entonces, ¿por qué estás enojado? ¡Sabes por qué hice lo que hice!” Throwing her hands up she makes herself large, voice filling the room. 

“¡Lo arruinaste todo, eso es lo que hiciste! Mami, ¿sabes siquiera lo que has hecho?” Jackie storms out as quickly as he came in, leaving behind a trail of dominos and confused women.

“Guada, I think we’re going to head home.” Martha comes closer, resting a hand on her shoulder. “If you need anything me and George are just a ring away.” The rest of the women echo Martha and soon Guadalupe is left with a broken table and silence.

\----

Jackie’s bike is outside the house when Guadalupe gets home. As is Vincent’s clunker of an Archer. She pulls into the driveway, shuts the car off, and waits. For what, she does not know. Neither man will come out to speak to her, and they’ve taken the first step by waiting at her home. The front door of the Welles home has never been locked to Jackie or Vincent, and even tonight that is true.

She opens the front door and is greeted by the smell of stew, the taste of it heavy on her tongue already. The soft sounds of a guitar come from the kitchen, and Guadalupe follows it.

Misty is standing at the stove, stirring a large pot and head bobbing along as she sings with the music. She doesn’t know the words but she tries, bless her. Jackie sits with Vincent at her circle dining table. Thomas, he ex, had installed a booth in the kitchen, to bring back memories of his family diner. 

All three of them look up when she enters the kitchen.

“Well,” She says, draping her jacket over a chair. “I won’t lie and say I’m not surprised.”

Misty clicks the stovetop to low, her shoes clicking against the floor as she crosses the room and takes a seat next to Jackie on his right side. Vincent will not look at her, one arm crossed over his chest and the other propped up, letting him chew on his nails. 

“Sit down, mami. We want to talk.” Jackie gestures to the seat across from the three of them. “And we want you to listen.”

Guadalupe takes the seat, hands folded in her lap.

“Jackie,” She starts, cutting off when he holds up a hand.

“No, mami. Listen.”

With all the gentleness she knows he possesses Jackie reaches out, taking Misty’s hand in his. Her hand is so small compared to his, but it fits nicely.

“Mami, this is my output, Misty.” The look he gives her is pointed.

“Yo sé quien es ella, chico. No soy estúpido.” 

“Mami, trabaja conmigo. Necesito que lo entiendas.” Jackie tries not to look frustrated with her. Stubborn, Pepe had called her once. All of them. Guadalupe motions for him to continue.

Jackie reaches towards Vincent, coaxing his hand away from his mouth and interlocking their fingers. He holds up both his hands, one holding Misty, the other holding Vincent’s.

“And mami, this is Vincent. My input.”

Guadalupe looks between the three of them, eyes narrowing as she starts to understand. Her thoughts are disrupted when Misty reaches around Jackie, gently calling out Vincent’s name. The man untangles himself and turns his body, holding out his free hand for Misty to take.

“And Vincent is my input.” Misty says. “Same as Jackie.”

Looking between the three of them Guadalupe starts to speak and then stops. Words fail her. Finally, she leans forward.

“You are together.” Jackie and Misty nod.

“The three of you?” They nod again. 

“¿En una relación?” Jackie cracks a smile.

“Si, mami. Los amo, y ellos me aman.” 

“In the store,” She starts, an awful feeling starting in her stomach. “When I saw Vincent kiss you…”

“I was right outside, mami. We’d just swung by to drop Misty off lunch. We’re converting the garage so we can get a bigger bed, have enough room for my tools and Misty’s cards and V’s cat.”

The world around her doesn’t feel real. Turning to look at Vincent she realizes that not once has he looked at her since she’s arrived. The table shakes just a tad, Vincent’s leg knocking against it while it bounces. She hit him, Guadalupe realizes. She hit him, and she accused him of betraying her family. His family.

Sliding her chair back she stands, watching as two of the three watch her. All but throwing herself around the table she moves until she stands just in front of Vincent. 

“Vincent,” She calls when he does not look at her. “Vincent, my son, look at me.”

Reaching out for him she freezes when he flinches away. 

Dropping to her knees before him she presses her forehead against his knees.

“Vincent, please. Forgive me.”

“You didn’t listen, Mama.” God above, he sounds so broken. Like he’s ten again and scared to tell her that he likes boys. 

“No. No, I didn’t and I’m so sorry.” The booth squeaks as Vincent slides out of it. If Jackie is a bear of a man, Vincent is a wolf, all long legs and lean frame. He cannot cover her fully like Jackie can but Vincent still manages to wrap himself around her as they cry. She sits in between his legs, his head pressed to her shoulder, and together they cry.

Guadalupe begs him for his forgiveness, and Vincent begs her not to be angry, not to leave him. Somewhere above she hears Jackie say something to Misty and they move in tandem, the clink of bowls and silverware signalling the start of dinner.

Time feels slow on the floor, with Vincent tucked in her arms and her head full of thoughts. Vincent has stopped crying, his shoulders twitching every so often as he hiccups. A hand touches her shoulder and when Guadalupe looks up Misty smiles back at her, friendly and welcoming and lacking all the pity she was afraid the girl would have.

“I made birria. Or, well, as close as I can. Even managed to get a pound of goat from a nomad.” Misty holds out a hand, having to dig her feet into the floor when she realizes that Vincent still has a hold of Guadalupe. He looks up, eyes red and puffy, and takes Jackie’s hand when it’s offered. Jackie pulls him into a hug, running a hand over his back soothingly and whispering to him.

Misty arranges the seats: she sits across from Vincent, and Guadalupe sits across from Jackie. When Jackie asks if they want to pray before eating, Guadalupe tentatively reaches for Vincent, smiling tearfully when he takes her hand in his.

\----

“By the power invested in me,” Padre Ibarra motions for the crowd to stand, “from our Heavenly Father above, I now pronounce you husbands and wife.”

The crowd cheers, hats being thrown into the air and a champagne bottle popping somewhere in the distance. Those who couldn’t fit into the small chapel rev their car engines outside, the entire block roaring to life. 

“May God bless us all on this beautiful day!” Ibarra calls over the crowd. “And may God bless the Ortega-Olszewski-Welles family!”

The wedding with Misty’s family had been small, only the rabbi and the wedding families gathered. Nothing big, Misty had asked. She didn’t keep the faith and really her father just wanted a reason to make the rabbi mad. Heywood, she had laughed, would do enough celebrating for all three of them.

“You may now kiss! And please, shorten the name. I won’t be putting that on my holiday cards.” Ibarra removes his clerical collar, slapping it on a table as he grabs a glass of whisky. 

Misty jumps, Vincent catching her and holding onto her as she wraps her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck. Jackie comes up behind her, an arm around her middle and the other reaching out, dragging Vincent in close for a kiss. The three of them look good, dressed in suits and a dark-colored sundress. Guadalupe has had to upload pictures from her camera three times now, and she will surely have to do so again soon. 

“Mama,” Misty calls, voice shy. They are working on it, her and Misty. She makes her sons happy, and Guadalupe will love her for that alone if she cannot love Misty for who she is. Misty reaches out for her, beckoning her over. They rearrange until they can all stand together.

Misty still has her legs wrapped around Vincent, leaning back to loop an arm around Jackie’s shoulders. Jackie has a hand on Guadalupe’s shoulder, the other taking the camera from her. When Vincent leans in, his smile bright and his arm hooked around Guadalupe’s, Jackie takes a picture. 

Guadalupe will only allow two physical copies of the photo to exist. One will hang on the back mirror of the bar, standing proud for everyone who visits to see. The other will find a home in a frame on her bedside stand.

**Author's Note:**

> now dont get me wrong, jackie/v is great.
> 
> but misty is right there.
> 
> and jackie has two hands!


End file.
